Nailablehttps://nailable.wordpress.com
Adj: Something that can be put on your nailsThu, 22 Feb 2018 05:00:55 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngNailablehttps://nailable.wordpress.com
Summer splodges with a bit of geometrichttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/summer-splodges-with-a-bit-of-geometric/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/summer-splodges-with-a-bit-of-geometric/#respondThu, 14 Aug 2014 17:30:00 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=164Continue reading →]]>I’ve been so busy these last few months. Having the time and inspiration to do anything too exciting has been difficult. But I did have a craving to so some summery pastel colours and taping recently, and this is what resulted:

Perfect to rock at a hen do, work meetings, birthday parties and more – especially given that the weather has been gorgeous!

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/summer-splodges-with-a-bit-of-geometric/feed/0almostnospecifics20140723_193906.jpg20140725_200051.jpgIt’s been a while!https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/its-been-a-while/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/its-been-a-while/#respondThu, 10 Jul 2014 08:14:20 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=158Continue reading →]]>Things have been a little bit busy – I’ve been getting a few designs out but equally have been sporting plain nails for a month or two now for various reasons. Anyway here’s some experiments…

I forgot how easy it is to post via my phone!

Until next time…

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/its-been-a-while/feed/0almostnospecifics20140623_210704.jpg20140621_222223.jpg20140609_124935.jpgWrap ’emhttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/wrap-em/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/wrap-em/#respondMon, 10 Mar 2014 18:36:17 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=133Continue reading →]]>I’ve had a ‘poverty of inspiration’ these last few weeks – not least being tied up and busy, and all those other excuses.

But still I wanted lovely nails – I wasn’t going to go out with bland, plain nails now, was I?

Wraps to the rescue!

As I’ve written about before, the Revlon 3D Jewel by Marchesa wraps are a sinch to apply, last really well and look absolutely gorgeous!

This time around I went with the blue ‘silk rosette’.

Here’s the dress it’s based on:

Gorgeous!

So I did a cream base (because the design is on a transparent background), and applied. Again it was super easy – I did the cream varnish using a Maybelline french manicure varnish one evening, and the next day, in bed, I applied the wraps! Easy peasy:

They lasted excellently for one week and a couple days.

Then as a bonus, here’s what I did for the Boy’s Mum for her birthday. These are the ‘royal burgandy’ variety on a coat of Collection deep red varnish – these were EVEN easier as her nail’s don’t have as much as a curve as mine. Whilst sadly a lot of the design was cut off, there was plenty of interesting design left on her nails:

And here’s the dress these are based on:

I fear that I love these wraps too much and they will ultimately make me very lazy… and possibly poor.

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/wrap-em/feed/0wpid-20140308_205911.jpgalmostnospecificsMarchesa_Dress_Silk-Rosette-1-478x600wpid-20140301_222957.jpgwpid-20140308_205911.jpgRevlon-Marchesa_Dress_Royal-BurgundyVintage floral nailshttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/vintage-floral-nails/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/vintage-floral-nails/#commentsMon, 10 Mar 2014 18:30:07 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=136Continue reading →]]>First off I want to start off by saying how satisfying doing this design was. I’ve been having a ‘poverty of inspiration’ of late, not feeling as though I was capable of doing much at all… but no more!

Admittedly this isn’t my own design, it’s inspired by the wonderful Robin Moses.

I started with Barry M’s ‘Cappuccino’ which was handed to me by someone who didn’t want it. It’s a sort of mauvey-browny-grey. I thought long and hard about what I could do with it.

This combined with a few things; an interest in doing something freehand, to challenge myself, loving rose designs but being a bit with them (having done them lots), wanting to try something new, etc, and fancying perhaps doing a flower-fairy-esque type design (a very old book that was given to me when I was very young that has somehow survived), and for other various, sentimental reasons.

So I searched around for tutorials on how I might achieve such a thing. Obviously most of them were those very easy ‘do a dot of pink and put swirls in it’ type things, which wouldn’t have the right effect. And then I came across from the aforementioned Robin Moses:

Click to watch the video on youtube

She has a lot of gorgeous and intricate, delicate floral designs but this one matched the sort of colour I was after, and the general style.

So I started with my base colour, dabbed on some gold with my finger roughly on the centre so that it basically just added shimmer (didn’t bother with the newspaper effect, as lovely as it is… because I’m lazy) and then went to work with painting on the design, starting with leaves and stems before adding in petals and various other details.

For some reason I chose to use varnishes, mixing up colours as I went, rather than using my acrylic colours. I ended up using two brushes. A super fine brush for the highlights and leaves and stuff, and a slightly thicker brush to dab on petals. I added in some little white daisies because I thought they’d be cute.

I’m really pleased with them – I didn’t even try to do my right hand, not yet anyway, but for now I think they’ve come out really well. I had to be super careful and patient, but otherwise they weren’t all that difficult really.

The only thing I’m not too pleased with is my attempt at the black scrolling – firstly, I was using a fast dry black varnish which is quite viscous so it was quite hard to make it really fine, and secondly I’m just not that good at composition! I never really know where to place things, if it’s too busy and so on. I suppose I could have added a bit more highlighting and shadows etc to add a bit of dimension to the design as well.

My aim is one day to be able to think something in my mind and be able to transfer it on to my nails, without needing the nudge from other, more talented nail artists.

They look sightly better without a flash

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/vintage-floral-nails/feed/2wpid-img_20140309_212657.jpgalmostnospecificsShirley-Poppy-Flower-FairyClick to watch the video on youtubewpid-20140309_143711.jpgwpid-20140309_212353.jpgJacquard nailshttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/jacquard-nails/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/jacquard-nails/#respondMon, 17 Feb 2014 16:14:44 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=128Continue reading →]]>I love my jacquard style trousers. I got them in a sale from a supermarket – how trendy, I know! But I love wearing them with t-shirts casually, or at work or at nights out, and even with my Christmas jumper that gets worn year-round. They are super versatile, and to my mind at least, can be edgy or classy or whatever. I just really like the pattern.

SO … why not try it out on my nails?

So I did. I used Max Factor’s Cloudy Blue as a base colour (it needs three coats). On one hand I tried to freehand paint the gold waves using Mac Fierce Entry. Then dotted on some purple dots (17 Royal Indigo), and on that another little gold dots within the waves:

It’s quite chunky looking but means you get the idea from a distance but didn’t quite have that same sort of dainty but bold feel to it.

Then I remembered that I had a stamp that looked like a similar pattern (to the gold wavey bits). Low and behold I did, close enough anyway (Cheeky image plate CH10)

Which is lucky because free handing with my left hand wouldn’t of looked great. The problem with these stamps though is that they don’t fit on my nail! So I filled in the edges as best I could and then repeated the purple and gold dotting as on the other hand. And this is the result:

I think it looks awesome, not the tidiest or most geometric/even or whatever but it looks fine… surprisingly. Even looks quite intricate even though the execution wasn’t that tricky at all. I really didn’t think I’d be able to get it to look even this good.

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/jacquard-nails/feed/0wpid-20140216_214324.jpgalmostnospecifics20140216_214304.jpgWill do nails for foodhttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/will-do-nails-for-food/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/will-do-nails-for-food/#respondThu, 06 Feb 2014 20:08:55 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=123Continue reading →]]>This is just a quick one to show you a design I did for a friend after she invited me over and fed me. It was the end of the night and she said she fancied something, not sure what. So I showed her some nail art pics off Pintrest and she liked some gold gradient nails. After a lil delving she said she’d like some black and gold, which of course made me think of those wonderful New Years Nails.

Thankfully for her I had a couple of those wraps left that fitted her ring finger nails so she could have feature nails. Then I used my new Mac ‘ Fierce Entrance’ which is a super-awesome gold to do a gradient over black (Rimmel Black Cab). And here’s the result pre clean-up:

She said the next day that the girls in her office were impressed, and she liked them, so whoop!

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/will-do-nails-for-food/feed/0wpid-IMG_20140205_222739.jpgalmostnospecificsTartan experimenthttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/tartan-experiment/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/tartan-experiment/#respondSun, 02 Feb 2014 11:55:37 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=115Continue reading →]]>I’ve been meaning to give tartan a go for a while. Yes it’s fashionable but also Burn’s night has just passed. And people accuse me of being Scottish all the time, so why not?

So given that I already had my new Mac Fiestaware on I thought I’d try something a bit different from the usual red and green tartans you see.

To start off with I used nail tape to make really clear lines within which I could do some lines to look like stitching or weave. I just used a regular striping brush. The gold polish I used was Mac ‘Fierce Entrance’ (which I think is just simple awesome). It’s actually gold with glitter in, so consequently it’s not that easy to get a striking line that’s fine in width. So instead I opted for thicker lines.

I did this in two steps; first to do the vertical lines and secondly to then to do the horizontal lines, waiting a few minutes in between to give the previously done lines a chance to dry.

Then I tried to do some finer lines with MaxFactor Glossfinity in Aquamarine, but basically I did that on the thumb and thought it looked too busy. The gold wasn’t really standing out, so I stuck with just the gold on the other nails. I even tried going free-hand on my ring finger. It was tricky to keep everything symmetrical more than anything else.

Anyhow, this is how it turned out:

I think for an experiment it’s not so bad. I think sadly the gold doesn’t stand out against the coral so much to do a proper tartan like on the thumb, but alas. I think the basic check looks really nice anyway.

And then on my right hand – you can see I had EVEN more trouble get fine lines on my index finger… and so gave up and so just played around with tape and free-hand stuff:

Next time I try tartan I may well do it with more conventional colours.

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/tartan-experiment/feed/0wpid-20140202_114804.jpgalmostnospecificswpid-20140201_190341.jpgwpid-20140202_114804.jpgwpid-20140202_114817.jpgThe perfect coralhttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/the-perfect-coral/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/the-perfect-coral/#commentsFri, 31 Jan 2014 17:29:06 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=110Continue reading →]]>It has happened! After a year and a half of searching, I have found my perfect coral!

Now, I realise that coral isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s nothing I like better when feeling vibrant. Even if it is the middle of winter. ESPECIALLY because it’s the middle of winter!

Anyway, my first love was the coral l had as a gel Mani from a salon that I wore for a holiday in Canada:

I won by being one of the last ones standing at a combined stag and hen do!

Since then I’ve tried many but they have never been quite right. Either too pink, too orange, deep, pastel, whatever.

Well, no more! With fanfare, or should I say ‘fiesta fare’, l give you:

Mac’s Fiestaware.

l think this is probably just some weird personal thing to me but this one is just enough of a pretty pale orangey/pink -coral!

l picked it up at the airport on my way back from Granada with my leftover Euros. Best souvenir!

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/the-perfect-coral/feed/1418359_10100297072920892_1222147893_nalmostnospecificsThese nails served me well on my trip to Canada (I won by being one of the last ones standing at a combined stag and hen do!)20140131_100418That’s a wraphttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/thats-a-wrap/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/thats-a-wrap/#respondThu, 30 Jan 2014 10:51:09 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=104Continue reading →]]>Having given those Revlon Marchesa wraps a go for new year I thought I’d see whether the Ted baker that’s a wrap nail polish strips would be as good.

These were launched in September 2013, and you can get them in a variety of patterns that are based on Ted Baker prints. I went for the light flowery print, Treasured Orchid, but there are three others. It’s really pretty and I had a number of important meetings coming up, and I thought they would be subtle enough to get away with.

In a pack you get 14 appliques and that’s it. They do come in a range of sizes, however I struggled to find the right sizes for all but my thumbs and pinkies. It may well be because I was rushing a bit (as usual) ahead of an early start to travel to Granada, Spain. They cost £7.50 in Boots.

They were OK to apply – I didn’t manage to get them all on completely smoothly though and my thumbs both had pretty big ridges. This was mostly sorted by some thorough smoothing and a thick covering with clear top coat. Unfortunately they were so soft and stretchy that I couldn’t get them off to reposition either.

In theory though you can just remove the backing and clear plastic top, place the curved edge at your cuticle, smooth down, cut close to the nail edge, and then file smooth.

Additionally, my attempts to cut the bigger sizes I had to use on smaller nails was less than perfect. I also chose to cut a couple appliques half way because the best bit of the designs were at the bottom! I have pretty long nails so I thought that was pretty dumb.

Anyway despite this being less than perfect I think the end result is pretty good, so all in all I have no complaints. Overall they were quick to do and hopefully you agree they look good, also.

They did last very well though – a full week, including scrambling around the hills of Granada (Spain) and an exercise session in the park, before I got bored and took them off. One thumb did get pulled off towards the bottom but that’s because it got trapped while packing and the top coat wasn’t completely dry.

I’m not convinced I’d buy these same wraps again though, so for these it may be a wrap.

]]>https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/thats-a-wrap/feed/0IMG_0954almostnospecificsIMG_0954Quick vixen frenchhttps://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/quick-vixen-french/
https://nailable.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/quick-vixen-french/#respondMon, 20 Jan 2014 20:35:31 +0000http://nailable.wordpress.com/?p=102Continue reading →]]>I just did these – very quick excuse to use my new deep red (Collection Lasting Gel Colour in Vixen Red 3). I’m going to try out some wraps later this week so I just wanted something quick to spruce my nails up with in the mean time. Couldn’t have completely plain nails now, could I?

I’m not very practiced with Frenches still so good chance to practice. Also I’ve just got a clear base coat on so that avoided trying to find a good nude (still haven’t found my perfect nude yet – suggestions please!).